1 Peter 2:9-10. 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
There’s nothing better in this life than being welcomed back after you’ve blown it. That is what grace is – undeserved acceptance. Such grace is the story of God. Of salvation. Of Christ. Of the whole Bible. And so once again Peter takes us deep into the Old Testament to show us the story of God’s undeserved acceptance that we have been given.
In Exodus 19 the Hebrews have made it out of Egypt, through the desert, and to Mount Sinai. There God will make a covenant with man – the ultimate in undeserved acceptance. He will speak over them their new identity as his treasured possession, his royal priesthood, and his holy nation.
Exodus 19:5-6. 5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
But notice the little word IF in Exodus 19:5. If they will obey. That is, if they accept God and never reject him, then God will accept and not reject Israel. This is a covenant built on their performance, not God’s undeserved grace.
But then Peter shows us that God’s mercy could not keep him from loving his people forever. To make this point Peter takes us to the story of Hosea and Gomer – Hosea the faithful husband (God), and Gomer the unfaithful wife (Israel). Like the adulteress, Gomer, Israel rejected God over and over, cheating on him at every turn. So, true to the law, God declared through Hosea that Israel would no longer be his people. Worse yet, they would no longer receive his love and mercy. And to make the message clear, God had Hosea name his two children “Not my people,” and “No mercy.” (Worst baby names ever).
This is life under the law. If you don’t live up, if you don’t get it right, if you fail, if you reject God in any way, then he rejects you. Acceptance must be earned and deserved, which means never really knowing if you’re accepted or not. But Hosea and Gomer’s story, the story of God and man, doesn’t end in law. It ends in God’s glorious grace. Just look at where God’s heart of love takes him in Hosea:
Hosea 2:20.I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
What made the difference? What allowed God’s heart to break and take Israel back as his bride? And what allows Peter to declare that we are now that bride – God’s people, priests, and possession? The answer is IN CHRIST. Christ the ultimate Hosea who has betrothed himself to us Gomers in faithfulness, in spite of our unfaithfulness. We are forever secure in HIS love, HIS mercy, HIS faithfulness, HIS deservedness. Now, in him, we are forever accepted by God, even though we cheat constantly. Because of Jesus, the faithful lover of our soul, we belong to God.
To live is Christ is bold belonging. It is undeserved acceptance. And there’s nothing better in this world than that. So today, take a moment to sit with your acceptance. Don’t do anything. Don’t try to make progress. Don’t make a plan. Don’t form an intention. Don’t perform. Just sit at the feet of Grace. Let him heal your heart and settle your soul. Let him remind you that you are his, and he is yours, and that’s all you need. And THEN go proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
You: Do you feel rejected by God or accepted? Based on what?
You in Christ: Meditate on your identity in Christ: his priest, his people, his possession.
Christ in you: How can you rest at the feet of Jesus today?
To Live is Christ 